August Gardening ~ Garden Blogger's Bloom Day August 2016

The Hot Border in August

    Hello all! August this year has brought some much needed rain, which has largely improved the garden.  Yes, there is more blight on the tomatoes. But everything else is really greened up and looking less tired than it did in July. The big pruning/dead leafing in July has done its job to create a nicer garden picture that will carry us through the autumn.

Pruning Daylilies

Herbaceous pruning (cutting the foliage of perennial plants) has a few uses. Often, it is used to delay the bloom of a plant, or to make it have better branching instead of just one main stem. This is known across the pond as the "Chelsea Chop", because gardeners in the UK can plan on cutting their perennials around time of the Chelsea Flower Show. (The show is usually held at the end of May.)

Another good reason for pruning perennial foliage occurs later in the season. During the hot months of July and August, perennial foliage often starts to look old and tattered. For many years, I sighed and assumed that yellowing leaves meant my garden was passing into its fall foliage already.

Before: Hemerocallis waiting for their trim in the Front Woodland

End of the Month View: One More Path...

Pergola Garden with our new pea gravel walk this week.

Our new Pergola Garden (so called for the invisible pergola... see it on the plan) was in need of some major changes with the walks in order to accommodate my new gardens. In July, I posted photos of this garden with just the hedges in place. We had a friend volunteer to come over and show my husband how to manually remove the sidewalks by using sledge hammers and wood jacks, which worked like a charm. Amazingly, he removed the long curve from the large yew bushes in a week... see below to compare.

Mow Those Leaves!

My husband mulching leaves our in the woodland.

For all of those gardeners who have wondered, "What can I do with all of my leaves besides send them to the landfill or municipality?"

It should be obvious that it is the leaf litter in the forest that helps to supports growth of shade plants. But less known is that there is also a lot of new research that shows how leaves also benefit you lawn. For more explanation of this method, see my old post on mowing your leaves in fall.

Heeling in Pots for a Cold Winter!

So, did you buy those extra bargains at the end-of-year plant sales only to get home and not know where to put them?

Do you have more plants potted up than you have space for in your garden beds?

A potted perennial in the open winter air will get much colder than your other plants in the ground.  So, if you are not sure where to plant it this moment, then an alternate plan is in order. (A side note: A good rule of thumb when buying plants for pots meant to stay outside all winter is to buy plants/shrubs that can handle one or even two hardiness zones colder than where you live.)

One option for your homeless perennials is to "heel in" your plants for the winter months. I believe it is called this because you are burying the pots up to their "heels".

• First, I like to chose a location with a little bit of shelter (ie. a nearby bush, a fence or wall) but it needs not to be covered completely because you want your plant to be watered by the rain and snow.

My chosen spot: near the fence and lilac bush where they can cozy in for the winter.

• Next, dig a pot-sized hole to 4-6 inches deep. Deeper will give them more warmth, so if they are your prized baby from your grandmother's rose bush, dig a little more. 

• "Plant" your pots, filling soil back around their edges. If I have more than one pot, I plant them snug next to one another. Some gardeners dig a trench, which would be much quicker for a large number of pots. 

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ October 2013 GBBD

The Hill Garden with Canna 'King Humbert', Echinacea purpurea, Berberis purpurea, and glorious yellow maples (Acer) leaves for autumn.

Welcome to my small town Pennsylvania garden in October!

I would be delighted to show you around our corner here in US zone 5. The foliage colors are intensifying this month, though they have not yet reached their climax. Our first frost is still on its way this year. Hurray for a few more weeks with tender plants in the garden! The begonias, cannas, dahlias and annuals are still adding their pretty bit to the mix. Come talk a walk around...

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD August 2013

Pink Anemone japonica, Spirea 'Goldflame', red Canna 'King Humbert' and white Cosmos fill the Front Walk garden this week.

Welcome to August in Pennsylvania! We have quite a few flowers this month since the Japanese anemones and meadow rues have started their long season of bloom and the black-eyed Susans are prettying the curb. Come take a walk around!

Climbing Rose and Clematis Combination

Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' blooming with our pink climbing rose.

It is rose season at our house!

The pink climbing rose is blooming this week and oh, so fragrant. Last year I added a clematis to it, and this is the first year they have bloomed together. Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' is a beautiful red climber that we also have on a trellis by our Circle Lawn (see it last week).

Mulching fun with the kids!

Mulching season, Spring 2013

Do you have this much fun with your mulching?!?

I think it is the *GIANT* pile of compost that really gets them excited. Spring is here and here is something they can finally just dig in to - any way, any how. And, boy, it does seems limitless... especially to the kids. :)

Tips for Applying Mulch

Mushroom compost at "Gilmore Garden Center."

We will have 3 yards of mushroom compost delivered this week. When I begin filling my first wheelbarrow full, I will think about the mulching techniques I have learned from many and various gardeners over the past 10 years...

Good Gardeners take Notes...

Time to dust off your garden journal or start a new one!

In much of my reading this winter, I keep running into this: good gardeners keep a garden journal.

They take notes on what blooms when, what the weather is like, what plant combinations they like and which ones they do not.  They makes lists of what they need to remember to change in the spring, in the summer, or the fall. And then they read them, do what they recorded, and cross them off!

And this is the moment to start: as flowers begin to bloom!

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD Sept 2012

Pink Dahlia with Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' in our Front Walk Garden.

Welcome to Pennsylvania in September! My garden has definitely perked up for fall. We finally had a normal amount of rain for the month, which is the first month since last year. The plants are putting on new growth, looking greener and flowering a bit more. Here are some highlights from around our two-tenths of an acre at Gilmore Gardens.

Ways to Use A Garden Journal

My Date Books turned Garden Journals from the past three years.

Do you have a garden journal? Journals are a great idea for furthering your garden education... but then there is the patient work of actually writing in them. Where to begin? How do you scramble to catch-up when you are behind?

One of my favorite garden authors, Rosemary Verey, said, 

"Take note as you go... Learn to build up your knowledge of plants, not only to be able to recognize them but to know what growing conditions they like or dislike, when they will flower, what their leaves will contribute before and after flowering, how they will relate to their neighbors.  This knowledge comes only with familiarity, observation and experience" (Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden, page 17).

Green Painted Lawn anyone?

 I happened to noticed this article on the Weather Channel.com the other day that says turf painting is really catching on these days due to the drought. For around $200, you too can have your green dream turf. A few ranting/incredulous thoughts...

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD July 2012

Lavender and purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in the Driveway Garden for July

Welcome to Pennsylvania in July! It has been a hot dry summer here this year, as it has been in most of the US. My gardens have had very little supplementary watering this season. Everything was looking tired around the edges until we had a garden clean-up this past weekend.

Protecting Plants from Spring Frosts

Tenting in a Clematis on a trellis in the Circle Lawn with an industrial-sized garbage bag during the warmer daytime temperatures to prepare for this evening's cold snap.

After two weeks of unseasonably warm weather in Pennsylvania, we are preparing for the temperature to plummet down to 24 degrees F (-4 C) this evening. Some thoughts on temperature fluctuations in a garden during spring:

1. Do not panic - For the most part, plants that come out of dormancy in the springtime are accustomed to coping with sudden cold temperatures. Most plants in zone 5 and colder are even able to withstand several inches of snow; once it is melted, they will continue their bloom again where they left off before the snow storm.  (I have seen tulips ready to bloom flopped on to the ground, covered in snow, that stood up to bloom when the sun came out again.)

Early March Flowers... and some snow

Crocus 'Goldilocks' in the Driveway Garden... can you see the purple haze in the backyard beyond? March 1st.

More of early bloomer Crocus tommasinianus in the Back Woodland and the children playing round and round on the patio.

First Hellebores orientalis bloom of the season.

A nice, new, though a bit wobbly, garden edge in the Driveway Garden dusted with snow.

Shoots of Crocus 'Goldilocks', tulips and daffodils uncovered in the Driveway Garden and braving the snow.

The Driveway Garden with a bit of snow, which is often seen coming and going these days. March 5th.

Spring is creeping up on us, though the temperature keep trying to hold it back (20 F this morning). But still it comes.

I have been dealing with some inner ear issues that have made the world swirl about me, but hopefully everything (playing with kids, cooking meals and trying to read, especially on the computer!) will be easier for me by the end of the week. I am still hoping to get out a few more succession planting posts before spring is in full swing; on the other hand, I can't wait to get out in the garden! But both are on hold. My life is a practice of enjoying what there is to enjoy in each day, whether sick or well, snow or sun. I hope that I may lay hold of what is good in life today and be thankful for it!

Happy March!
May the flowers soon be blooming on your doorstep~
Julie

Have you been messy yet today?

All the best things in life are messy!

The longer I live, the more I see it:

Eating warm chocolate chip cookies...

stomping in mud puddles...

babies... oh, so cute, but definitely messy...

fresh new paint...

 

And the messiest of all just might be gardening!

What else can get me covered in mud from my knees down in ten minutes, keep me out clipping plants in the rain for an hour, or contrive to lure my hands into gooey mud while strolling around the house?

I love it. And today I am dreaming about it being warm enough to garden in the rain again...

Mulch new plants with your Christmas Tree

The cookies have been eaten, the eggnog is drunk. The last party of the season saw the children running around with noisy horns for the new year. December is over, and it is time for that most arduous task: stripping our Christmas tree of its ornaments and lugging it back outside.

This can be depressing for people who loves parties and all the excitement of the holidays, but as gardeners, we can find some redemption even in the dismantling of our treasured decorations.

The weather has continued to be very mild for this time of year, but I am trying not to be lulled into forgetting that the coldest part of the year is yet to come. Some of my plants are in need of extra coverage in January, especially those that were newly planted this past growing season. Their roots are just beginning to establish themselves, not yet fully gripping the soil around them. Also, those in wind-blown areas are often just bare stems and earth by this time since the wind has stolen their leaf cover. This is where our dearly loved Christmas tree comes in to help.

Stems of a newly planted hibiscus made bare by the wind

After hauling/tossing/lugging your tree outdoors, cut off the branches where they meet the trunk. Use these to create a framework around the stems of your precious plants. I usually use 3-4 medium branches per plant, though windier areas my call for using larger and/or more evergreens.  This teepee-like-framework will filter the desiccating winds of winter.

Evergreen branches set in a sort of teepee around the plant.

For ease and in warmer climates, the branches may be enough cover for the winter.

But if you live in a cold zone 5 or higher, you might want to consider taking an extra step on an unfrozen day to protect your plants: Grab handfuls of leaves from elsewhere in your yard and tuck them in and under the evergreen branches. Or do this process in reverse: first pile the leaves around the plant, and then add the branches on top. Either way, this will hold your extra winter cover in place through wind, snow and rain.

Leaf litter tucked into the branches around the hibiscus and the newly transplanted lavender (at left)

My new OSO Easy Rose 'Paprika' surrounded by evergreen cover to help it establish.

An added bonus: the evergreen branches look really pretty scattered in your garden boarders with a dusting of snow!

This photo just taken this evening after our snow fall - finally!

In the first growth of spring, after the weather is less constantly icy, pick up the branches from your plant and scatter the leaves so that you can watch it come out of dormancy. Another winter gone by... oh, for that day!

Merry un-trimming to you!

Core Aeration for Lawns: Fall Gardening Task #9

Core aerate in the fall for compacted lawns

It is the 12th of December and still our weather is unseasonably warm for our part of Pennsylvania; today is a sunny 40 degrees F (4 C), even though the temperature in early morning was 14 F (-10 C). No blanket of snow has settled yet, only a flurry a month ago that melted in a few hours.

The nice weather has afforded me enough time this late-late fall to work on another garden problem: worn and compacted turf. It really is only in spots, but it is not so nice to begin a walk around the garden with a stomp through the mud at the gate. Since this is a narrow spot, it gets a lot of abuse from feet big and little. And there are also a few more areas of lawn that have been reseeded each spring with little permanent success. Some more research was in order.

Gate Lawn aerated and starting to breath easier before winter wetness

I first started thinking about core aeration when I read Libby's post at The Sproutling Writes. Curiously to me, she reported that they were core aerating their lawns in the fall. In my experience, homeowners in the US do that in the spring. Also, Libby reported that they raked coarse sand into the holes in their clay.

Then I went looking and found this thorough article on Yardener about lawn care which suggests core aeration in the fall also.  This article talks about using a machine or a hand tool.

After a moment of reflection, fall core aeration made wonderful sense to me though it is an uncommon practice in the US. The purposes of core aeration are to relieve compaction, increase drainage, and stimulate root growth by root pruning. Perennial gardeners know when it is time to root prune: before winter, because it is in winter when root growth happens. Drained is also needed the most during the wet winter season. Fall coring gives your lawn all of these advantages.

Plus, Yardener's best idea: core the lawn, then mow in your fall leaves for mulch and break up the core plugs all at once. Brilliant! I missed my opprotunity this year, but I want to remember for next year.

More benefits to core aerating in fall instead of the spring: the kids are not outside playing in dirt plugs during this colder weather; the crocuses blooms are not displayed above a multitude of yucky core plugs. Enough said.

A hand tool was very interesting to me since our yard is pretty small and the trouble spots even smaller. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to aerate small areas when I felt it needed it without needing to rent equipment? Especially when renting a core aerator runs $75 per day?!?

Hand Core Aerator on completed lawn

Remember what I said about it not being a common fall practice in the US? A few visits to my local stores confirmed it: no hand aerators were available until spring. They were sold out long ago.
Since there were none available locally, I decided to order one from Amazon.  I chose Yard Butler D-6C Core Lawn Aerator for anyone interested. (Note: I am not paid for any of my product suggestions.)  After having used it for a couple hours on a warmer day, I am really pleased with it. It is as sturdy as I hoped and does the job easily. It is now my second favorite tool, though far behind my Japanese soil knife of course.

Cores lay on the lawn to break down and add nutrients to the surface

The process is very simple, and made much easier by having rain in the past few days. Step down on the aerator, pushing the earth into the tubes and pull the tool out.  Repeat it again to push the previous cores out and make more holes. You will need to make 8-12 holes per every square foot. Leave the cores lie on top to break down over winter and add nutrients to the surface of your lawn.

You can see the previous cores coming out the top while hubby steps again.

It really is kind of fun. There is joy in hearing the roots breath freely I guess. I do recommend wearing your gardening gloves to help with the repeated gripping involved in pulling it out. I did large sections myself in a half hour, then I wanted to stand back and let my hubby have a turn. But I was soon going at it again.

To finish up, I decided to try raking in a little coarse sand as Libby suggested for her clay turf (see top photo). I am hopeful that it will increase the drainage even further in these compacted areas and help our turf mixed with white clover struggle to success.

Fall Gardening Tasks Series:

#1 Planting Lavender in wet climates

#2 New perennials for fall planting

#3 Thin Perennial Seedlings

#4 Bring in the tender plants

#5 Mowing leaves into Turf 

# 6 Planting Spring Bulbs

# 7 Edging and Removing Turf

#8 Heeling in- Quick Winter Perennial Storage